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I've spent yet another year listening to stuff that came out >12 months ago so I don't have much of a list. I loved Grizzly Bear's Shields. Lightships' Electric Cables got played a lot but it's not very groundbreaking, especially if you're already a Teenage Fanclub fan.

My favourite album of the year, drawn from a tiny selection, is World Music by Goat. Their description of themselves says it all, really: "afro-psych-kraut-voodoo space heads".

Again, another band that I've enjoyed for nearly a decade now. Despite being power metal and heavy metal, I find their music quite enjoyable. It's mostly about famous historical events/leaders, however. Wars and such. I do favor their 'Gott Mit Uns' track the most, however.

6. St Vincent and David Byrne: Love This Giant (don't know why this one was so poorly received, I thought it was awesome)

7. Bat For Lashes: The Haunted Man

8. P.O.S.: We Don't Even Live Here--This guy is a local Mpls rapper and he's awesome. You should check him out if you've never heard of him:

9. Sinead O'Connor: How About I Be Me (and you be you)--This is her best album in years, but kind of sadly overlooked this year

10. Xiu Xiu: Always

Disappointment of the year: 2 way tie between Jens Lekman and the Magnetic Fields. The Magnetic Fields just continued their downward spiral that they've been on for a while now, but I did expect more from Lekman given that his last album was one of my favorites of the last decade.

I really loved "Hades Town," but all of her other stuff has just kind of left me cold. "Hades Town" is kind of a weird anomaly in her career or something, I think. Maybe she should do another concept album or just straight up write a musical.

This thread has made me realize I've really been slacking on music this year. I guess I've found a lot of cool stuff from 2011, but not nearly enough 2012 freshness. Either way, here goessss:

Animal Collective - Centipede Hz: I'll admit I'm a huge fanboy, but I love this album. I love me some MPP, but this was a nice return to form to the typical AC madness that I adore so much. A nice fusion of the popness of MPP with some good ol' fashioned Strawberry Jam and earlier influences brought into the mix. Applesauce and Monkey Riches do it the most for me, but I can listen to this front to back even more easily than I can MPP; again a lot more akin to their earlier releases. It has a few less sudden *mind essplode* moments than MPP, but wall to wall good vibes and crazy sounds wins me over any day. Being able to see them live for the first time in September helped the magic all the more.
Dan Deacon - America - Took me awhile to get around to this one, but a very solid followup to Bromst. Bonus points because it managed to give me the most surreal moment of the year: Dan Deacon was scheduled to play a free show in my small college town in October, and my friend and I realized it was going to be on the exact same day we were driving to Texas to go camping, as we're in the car driving there. We were fairly dismayed until we went to see a few friends in downtown Dallas the night before he was scheduled to play in Oklahoma; as we go across the street to find a bar to hang out at...what do I hear from a bar down the way? Dan Deacon playing a free concert. Awesome crowd participation, building human bridges and human whirlpool circles, great great times.

Hotline Miami - Has already been mentioned, but it's fantastic. I haven't even played the game yet, but the advent calendar linking to the soundtrack made me so happy. It also lead into my discovery of...

Sun Araw - The Inner Treaty - More of the goodness from Hotline Miami; extremely chill beats and great for a relaxing session trying to conquer Pendor in Mount & Blade.

Prince Yeti - Other Animals and Other Things - My happy bandcamp discovery of the late year. Tight and electronic, another great one to play while 4Xing something on the PC.

Stuff I have but haven't gotten around to giving a fair enough shot:

Jack White - Blunderbuss
Grizzly Bear - Shields
Sigur Ros - Valtari

Getting a lot of great ideas from this thread though, thanks a bunch all of you!

Dan Deacon - America - Took me awhile to get around to this one, but a very solid followup to Bromst. Bonus points because it managed to give me the most surreal moment of the year: Dan Deacon was scheduled to play a free show in my small college town in October, and my friend and I realized it was going to be on the exact same day we were driving to Texas to go camping, as we're in the car driving there. We were fairly dismayed until we went to see a few friends in downtown Dallas the night before he was scheduled to play in Oklahoma; as we go across the street to find a bar to hang out at...what do I hear from a bar down the way? Dan Deacon playing a free concert. Awesome crowd participation, building human bridges and human whirlpool circles, great great times.

Dan Deacon has bar-none the greatest live shows imaginable. The one time I saw him I had to leave halfway through his set due to extreme blizzarding, though. :(

DiamondDog, I've just spent a very enjoyable half hour spotifying various things from your list, much enjoyable, thanks mate!

Thanks, glad some of it got your interest! Always keep this thread bookmarked, myself. Let people point me towards the stuff I've missed. Hell, that entire music thread has been a delight all year for interesting music.

I've got a late entry for albums I really enjoyed. Popped by the record shop I used to frequent in Glasgow on the way home (it being at the train station and all) and picked up the first album in the "best Scottish music" section with a highly recommended sticker on it. Was going to ask the guy to play a bit turned out he already was (and I had it in the back of my head to ask who he was playing anyway). Turns out it's a good 'un.

Brilliant bass-tastic aggrotech album, continuing their trend towards clearer, less distorted vocals that began with the Chemicals + Circuitry EP, and in fact there is a new re-recorded version of C+C on here. Track 7 - 'Deep Waters' might be a bit out of place though, with a more pop kind of sound from a guest vocalist. The whole thing sounds incredibly well mastered. The remixes on the limited edition version take it to a total of 25 tracks, but quality wise they are a mixed bag.

Video for titular track (1080p available);

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Technically this song from Aesthetic Perfection was released in late 2011, but my copy didn't land until January 2012 so I'm including it because it's basically Trent Reznors' voice coming out of the mouth of a Kieron Gillen lookalike;